Because Why Not Braise Some Artichokes at Midnight

Alternate titles included (which may say something about this entry and any more I may make): "Cooking with Wine at Midnight Means Finishing the Bottle" and "'Cook With Wine You Drink' Means Drink the Wine You're Cooking With". Which, really, is probably also a family mantra about cooking with wine. Or drinking wine while waiting on someone who's cooking. Or just drinking wine. Mom's side of the family really likes wine. It's some kind of miracle we aren't all alcoholics.

I half-assed Tom Colicchio's "slow-braised chicken with artichokes" recipe a few weeks ago when my brother was in town. I half-assed it and it was amazing. In his book, it was the best thing I ever cooked. In mine, it's at least in my top 3. (Sidenote: I don't have plans for this to stay in my top 3. There's a "bacon" recipe in "think like a chef" that I'm convinced is going to blow it out of the water.)

So, tonight, I'm gonna braise some artichokes for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm gonna braise some chicken thighs with some lessons learned.

I wasn't impressed by the slow-cooked chicken as much as I was impressed by how the carrots tasted. I plan on fixing the chicken bit (I let the liquid get too low in the last 3rd of the cooktime). I also plan to add more carrots because HOLY GOD that was good. And, hopefully, I plan on getting a little more ready before starting -- since I've got to reconstitute some chicken stock.

In any case, my knife skills are coming along. I noticed some pretty decent improvement recently and I've been able to pick up some speed. I had a little trouble getting thin slices of leek, but that was mostly from being still pretty unfamiliar with leeks and the outer-most layer slid every so often.